Saturday, August 19, 2006

Climbing: The death of Mommy

Our little Eli has blossomed into quite the little monkey this past week. He is in no way close to standing on his own or even thinking of walking BUT......he's climbing on everything!Yesterday this new found skill landed us at Children's Hospital in the ER for a lovely 4.5 hours. Carson was having a bit of a meltdown (see my post about his new diagnosis/update that I am going to write later today) so he was sitting on my lap crying and getting some "mommy time". Eli decided to take full advantage of the situation, as all onry children should, and began climbing onto the couch. He hasn't perfected this skill and ended up falling off the couch backwards and hitting his head on one of the metal legs to the computer chair that Carson and I were sitting in. Eli lost consciousness for 30-40 seconds and then woke up confused and scared. The crying began. I found a scary bump directly behind his right ear that was sticking out 1" from his head and was 2" in diameter. Off to get the ice. The crying stops. I'm running around getting shoes on Carson and the diaper bag packed with tube feeding supplies while holding Eli. I grab my pen light and check his pupils. They're reactive and equal.....thank God! He's not acting like himself. Very drowsy, not interactive, not our Eli. After throwing the boys in their carseats and the dog in the front seat, I call my Dad to let him know Carson and Macy are coming over to his house because Eli needs to go to the ER.

Mommy overdrive is on but Nurse Mommy thoughts won't quite going through my head. What if he fractured his skull? What if his already mildly enlarged ventricles are damaged or have bleeding from the injury? Concussion? What if? What if? The combo of being a mom, a preemie parent twice over, and having medical knowledge can be grounds for a heartattack in certain situations! But I was calm, cool, and collected on the outside.

We get to the ER. The triage nurse asks the normal questions..... Medical history? Right....how do I make that short? What happened? He fell....then I tell the whole story. He lost consciousness? Yes. Any vomiting? Ummm...no, he is unable to vomit due to his Nissen fundoplication. Oh yes, you did say that. We'll get him right back.

It was then that I noticed the petechiae (they are tiny purple/red spots that are hemorrhages in the skin) that had been on his neck for the past few days had spread all over his neck and all over his face. Great. What does my child have petechiae all over his neck and face? At least we were at the ER and I could just ask the doctor. We get taken back and they order a CT scan to make sure he doesn't have a skull fracture, brain bleeds, or a concussion. At least my mommy worries weren't so far off. They also order a CBC, differential, and the whole battery of blood clotting disorder tests! They are quite worried about his petechiae and want to make sure he doesn't have hemophila, other clotting disorders, or low platelets that would need a transfusion. More tests that our little man can add to the massive list he has had performed in his short lifetime of 14 months.

Eli finally started acting like himself about 3 hours and 15 minutes after the fall. Al was able to leave work and meet me at the hospital and it was weird seeing our normally happy, flirty child, not smile or interact with us or the nurses. What a relief if was when he started to laugh and smile again. He cried during the CT scan but who could blame him.....it's scary. The results were perfect! No brain bleeds, no skull fracture, no concussion. He was cleared for discharge on the head injury with just Tylenol every 4 hours and ice packs as tolerated. We were still waiting on the blood results. Al's side of the family has hemophila. Now with my medical knowledge, I know that Eli would have to be a girl in order to have inherited hemophilia from Al, but I am adopted and have no medical history of my own. This leaves a few doors open. I was worried something new was wrong with our baby. Finally the results were in. Normal. Every micropreemie parent will tell you that when the word "normal" is used.....it is cherished. We don't hear that word often. They held a conference to discuss Eli's results (it must have been a slow Friday in the ER) and cannot determine at this point why he would have petechiae. We are to watch for any other signs of bleeding in his urine, stools, or worsening petechiae.

So, our little micropreemie has turned into a monkey and loves to climb. It's strange to see a kid who cannot stand or walk, mount a couch. Leave it to Eli. If you read this far you are an angel. Eli is doing well this morning. His head is still tender and no is a nice dark shade of purple but he's back to trying to climb on the couch. That's my boy.

5 comments:

Oh man Kel, sounds like you had one long day of excitement yesterday! YIKES!! I'm so glad to hear that everything turned out normal though, you must have been petrified. Eli sure is a fighter isn't he? Strong little booger. hehe ((HUGS))

(sorry about the deleted post, not sure what happened but the post cut off so I redid it)

I read every word! Sound SCAREY. My husband would have a complete heart attack if that happened to Holland (she's the monkey in our family). He can't stand it when she falls and gets even a little bruise:) Glad to hear that he is feeling better.

Oh my! Poor little Eli! I can only imagine the stress on you during this whole ordeal! My little climber decided to pull the lamp off the end table on her the other day. I'm amazed at their sense of adventure!

Background info

Meet our two boys Carson and Elias. C was born at 30 wks and Elias at 25 wks. Follow us as we journey through life raising two premature boys. The roller coaster ride of the NICU hasn't stopped since we stepped out of those hospital doors but we learn, love, and laugh our way through it all. When I'm not chasing them or helping build construction sites out of tonka trucks, I also work as a NICU nurse in a level III NICU and am working on my Masters as a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner.